Ardust and Ivy are correct. The sign posts that were in the middle of the road, on Creed (and maybe elsewhere, I don't know) became major hazards once the signs were stolen. I was camped within 50 feet of one, and once the sign was gone (stolen by someone in a white golf cart, at that), I witnessed a painful collision and several near misses. (These people had lights, but a long slender pole, with no reflectivity, was virtually invisible.)

After seeing this, I tried to pull the post out - with no success, so I put a blinking light on it - and it was stolen within 5 minutes. later, I saw the post had been moved around some (hit again? someone elses attempt to remove the hazzard?), so I tried to pull it out again. This time it was loose enough and came out.

What some of ya'll are missing, is that if you pound these f*ckers into the ground, you bear some responsibility for them. Be responsible for *your* actions. If we were talking about my tent stake rebar, I think you'd see the point more clearly. OK, so you didn't consider the change in hazard status that occurs when the nice white sign gets taken off. That's understandable, but now you know, so you might consider doing something about it, instead of treating people who have pointed out a serious safety concern with contempt.

LOL precipitate.....my thoughts exactly. What did they ever do back in the 90s hmmm.

On the other hand, groups like the Extra Action Marching Band who spent a lot of time raiseing cash to build the Contessa should be able to use there "art car/ship" more than one year. Heck, I'm sure we'll be seeing that ship sail the playa for years and I have no problem with that.

nodule wrote:What some of ya'll are missing, is that if you pound these f*ckers into the ground, you bear some responsibility for them...you might consider doing something about it, instead of treating people who have pointed out a serious safety concern with contempt.

Of course, the white street signs aren't supposed to be stolen in the first place. What makes anybody think they're giveaways, just because the text upon them changes from year-to-year? Anybody that's waiting for an ambulance to arrive at their theme camp and bleeds out because the emergency crew gets lost due to a lack of signs might have an opinion about that if they weren't dead.

precipitate wrote:But, but, but how would we know what to <i>do</i> without a theme? There would be no coherent progression to the art and ohmigod I'd have to think for myself! Pardon me a moment, I feel faint.

I found this years theme to be curmudgeony. Still, it is nice to have something to react to and I am happy to have a rough framework to play with when I please and ignore when I please. If you have a consistent schtick year in and year out I can see why you might not give a shit about a unified theme. Respect that for some of us it is something extra to play with in our projects.

..Or they could just not pound stakes into the middle of roads. I witnessed no problems with street signs (which were on the corners), only with the pole that was smack in the middle of Absurd, at Creed (at the entrance to Absurd Plaza). I assume it, and others like it, were put there to discourage drivers from continuing any farther. That seems to be what could use some re-thinking.

I've always felt that the broader a theme is the better. The more room for bizarre tangents and unthought of connections, the better it has done it's job. Of course, the best theme would be none at all, but failing that, it is always within our power to broaden it, satirize it, or ignore it.

has this turned into the "explain your playa handle" thread or do we need to start a new topic?

princess strych-9 was given to me by one of the many meth phreaks i met when i first moved to sf. he started out by calling me pinky ( optimitically, i'm sure ) and when i ended up keeping the pink to myself, he redubbed
me the poison princess.

Most of us on the temple/pedestal/platform/pyramid/whatever crew worked through Wednesday, and in my case Thursday, and this was some time after [xxx], but I did manage to build bomb-proof windbreak and shade in camp before doing a hell-ride back to the city to talk the gf into coming because only days before she said she was too busy, except when I got there all I found was a damned note, and I'd apparently missed her by about six hours because she panicked and grabbed the cat and took a ride from a friend, except that when I went through Gate in a howling sandstorm they said I couldn't leave the ticket at will-call, so imagine the hilarity that ensued, not to mention that when I got back to the playa the cat slipped her leash and got "lost", prompting the gf to put PSAs on the radio and notes everywhere, except the cat was cooling herself under a car two camps away, after making us the poster-child object lessons of you-know-what.

Oh... and DPW is sort of the same as it ever was, albeit that there was a corporate takeover by HelCo.

But fuck me sideways with a two-by-four... can't remember the definition of "mercy" I told Cowboy Carl... it'll come back to me...

Last edited by Bob on Tue Sep 09, 2003 1:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ardust Plaza wrote:2) "What's in this camp? Oh, another techno sound system. What a surprise." After wandering the esplanade at 4am and seeing almost as many DJ's practicing their mixing as there were dancers, my first thought on this subject was "Why not make next year's theme something to do with the sun and ban all non-alternative powered sound systems?"

actually, that what was mostly breakbeat and psy-trance. i've heard only one techno set thurs. am at sol system (some brit lady dj - pretty good).